South America Travels: Live, from Cochabamba!

We have had two interesting days. Yesterday, Cora, the director for CFC, Bolivia, and Kattya, our "house mother" had to go make a presentation to a potential donor, and we tagged along because we had nothing better to do. The meeting was at the foot of the mountain where the statue of Christ dominates the City, so they decided to take us there after the meeting. The statue is taller than the on in Brazil by 3 meters. It is beautiful and impressive. They have cable cars to get to the top, but you can go on foot, if you feel like climbing over 600 stairs! You can also take a taxi. We opted for the cable car. The line was long because it was a national holiday (Day of the Dead). It was a nice outing for the afternoon.

While we were there, Cora told us that we had a radio interview this morning at 10. It was the first we heard about it! You have to be flexible. So we were ready to go at the appointed hour. The interview was about 25 minutes. The announcer, who is a pastor, asked us questions using well-known passages from the Bible that we are going to use anyway. We were well-prepared. John was awesome. Here he is being interviewed live on the radio in Spanish, but he handled it like a pro. I was very proud of him.

John answering questions on live radio in Spanish!

Today we had lunch with a couple who are working with a unreached peoples group and who our church supports. They are here because she is from here and is having their second baby. We had a typical Bolivian lunch. It was delicious and we were delighted to see them here. They also bought lunch. Thanks!

Steak, "choclo,"which is the corn with large kernels on the cob, potatoes, limey sp? beams, thinly sliced tomatoes and onions with local cheese. Yum!

Believe it or not, we went to the doctor's office from there, but it had nothing to do with the great lunch we just had. Last night I had a terrible nigh of coughing. I not only kept John awake all night, but everybody else in the house also. At 1:00 am Kattya came over with some vapor-rub. I think it helped me go to sleep. Kattya knows a Christian doctor, so she made an appointment right after lunch. He saw us both, gave me a shot of penicillin and something else for my chest congestion, and also prescriptions for both John and me (Sorry, no pictures of me getting an injection) We went to a pharmacy where we could use a credit card and walked the rest of the day home. By the time we got there, we just had time to rest for a little bit and have a light dinner to go to our first workshop, which was going to take place on a commercial mall in the center of town.

Typically for a Latin country, even though the workshop was to start at 7:00 pm, the first couple did not arrive until 7:15. We did not get started until 7:45. We only got through the first section (there are 5) because we were told when we were ready for the first break that we had to be out of the room by 9:30. Well, it was 9:00 by then. So we let them have their time where they discuss some questions we provide about their relationship privately with their spouse. The place was also too noisy. We asked them if the noise was distracting, and they say yes: therefore, it was decided to move tomorrow's workshop to Christ for the City, which is not really that far and on the same street, and we begged them to be on time, so that we can go over more material. As it is, we are going to leave out an entire section. Anyway, all the couples were pleased with the workshop, and said that they have learned something that they will try to apply. PTL! (Thank you, Pastor D for letting us use your material. It is still blessing many).